Sunday, December 22, 2013

Social Studies Mentor Text and an App

I love a good mentor text, especially for social studies, but add in a bit of technology . . . even better!

Today, I share with you, Somewhere in the World Right Now by Stacey Schuett. This is a lovely book with beautiful illustrations. It is very lyrical and explores the world of time zones and cultures.

Click on the picture below to take you to a Youtube video of the book being read.

There is a great app that goes well with the book. Whole Wide World is a fun game where students take a journey around the world. They can rotate the globe to select a country to visit. Students play games and collect postcards to add to their scrapbook while learning about fun facts about each country.

Then, students can use the interactive postcard creator from Read, Write, Think to write about their travels or research another location.

I love that when you hover over the various parts of the postcard, it will give the student the name of that part of the letter and a short description.

It walks students through the various parts of the letter as they write.

Print when finished! Then, students can design the front of their postcard with an original drawing.